Starring: James Franco, Seth Rogen, Randall Park

Genre: Comedy

Dave Skylark (Franco) runs a successful chat show, but due to its tendency to feature celebrity gossip, he is not taken seriously as a journalist. When his producer Aaron Rapaport (Rogen) tries to get more serious guests, he discovers that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is a huge fan and manages to secure an interview with him. However, they are then unwillingly recruited by the CIA to assassinate him.

We all know the background story to what is seemingly one of the most controversial films of recent years, but when a film is as irritatingly stupid and unfunny as The Interview it is hard to understand what all the fuss was about. It is the typical low-brow lowest common denominator humour that we have come to expect from Seth Rogen these days, and though it is obvious him and James Franco enjoy working together and had a great time making this film, they maybe should have spared a thought for the paying audience watching it and the fact that films are actually made for the audience.

The crude dialogue is often genuinely embarrassing, and the fact it is coming from the mouth of a talented actor and often very likeable screen presence like James Franco only serves to make the whole viewing experience even more annoying. Franco himself overacts to within an inch of his life and has never been anywhere near as irritating as he is in The Interview. Meanwhile Seth Rogen is supposedly the (sort of) straight man, but he just plays himself, and is as annoying as always.

After the endless vile dialogue and visual gags, the film’s final third inevitably tries to contain a slight element of emotional substance and character arcs. Franco’s talent as an actor does almost pull it around in the film’s supposedly more serious scenes, but what has proceeded it makes it almost impossible to actually care what happens to our supposed heroes, and indeed the narrative in general. I have no idea if The Interview is supposed to actually be satire, and though what happened in real life may have been a fascinating story in itself, no credit for that should ever to go to anyone involved in this humourless and painfully to watch crap.

Nearly starting a war may make great marketing, but forget the headlines; The Interview is the usual lazily written lowest common denominator stoner comedy rubbish to come from Seth Rogen and co. and the most offensive thing about it is how genuinely unfunny it is.

2/10